Generally, it’s free money for the government. The cost is put on the consumer not the country of export. It can favor domestic products by making the imports too expensive.

So, the BYD tariff was so high that pretty much no one will buy one.

But when they do it on steel, or something similar, and companies have to buy it anyway, that cost is just added to the final price.

Essentially, tariffs are a tax that disproportionately affect low to middle income people the most.